Nirvana and the car crash?

Car Crash

Much like many other days, I headed out on my bike at lunch. It was warmer than I expected, but I do work in “Hotlanta” just a few short feet from the Perimeter (what people in the ATL call a beltway). I headed down to Columns drive to stretch out the legs and burn off some of my memorial weight gain. While I was there I had a GREAT RIDE! I mean this was the triple X throw down of intervals I have wanted/needed. I really put myself in the hole an fought out like a badger to get out. I was racing OFM (Old Fat Me, sort of…). I was setting up intervals and racing my computer. I beat it once, the second time it beat my by 52 feet. The third, 2 feet… it got me by 2 feet, though I did make it harder and had to make a U turn that cost me a 68 foot lead. GRRR!! Anyway, 25 miles at lunch is like the good number.

On the way back through the park, on the gravel path, just spinning my legs out, I had what alcoholics refer to as a moment of clarity (well, not really, but that’s one of my favorite lines from Pulp Fiction and when I am in a good mood, I like to think of that). ANYWAY… the shade, the quiet, the honeysuckle smell, the whole thing was just perfect. It really made me one with my environment, my machine and myself… I guess reality had to come back sooner or later.

About 5 minutes later, I am sitting at an intersection, legally waiting for a green light when a siren goes off. It sounds like it’s in my helmet, I figure out quickly it’s in front of me turning left…. then another siren! WOWZA… that got my heart rate up! (I should look at my file to see if there was a jump. There was almost a problem in my bike shorts… that wouldn’t be good! I get a green light, roll away… things look fine, I clear the hill and realize the perimeter is all backed up…. no wait, its stopped! Then I can here the sirens again, they are coming back on me! Wow… there is the crash! Being the geek that I am looking for that ever popular candid shot that will propel me into fame and fortune I grabbed my trusty camera phone and like every facebook/myspace addict took photos! My phone crashed and rebooted 2 times, so I had to settle for this less than ideal set of photos, but the accident was right there. I was glad I was “a road away” and safe, and not caught in the soon to be lengthy traffic jam. I did dispatch my trusty co-worker to monitor the accident from the top floor of our building… he was on it.

Crazy … from peace and serenity to mayhem and chaos in a matter of minutes!

The healthiest computer game

For my birthday, my parents gave me a Garmin Edge 305 bike computer.  It’s a pretty geeky toy, but well… if the shoe fits, right?  The computer has so many features it has taken me quite some time to get my arms around the whole thing.  As a matter of fact, I think I have only really put a “dent” in the feature list at this point.  Well, anyway… today I figured out how to “race myself”.  Well, in this case, we will call me “Virtual Me” since ultimately, I am a pound or 2 lighter than I used to be…. so I am now Mini-Me… and Maxi-Me sounds like…. eh… nevermind!

Anyway, you can set up a “Course” based on a past ride.  You start at your door and rock the house!  It has a little dude racing you.  You can watch your progress, see how far you are ahead, it will show you hills that are coming up … it’s REALLY FREEKIN COOL!  It also pushed me harder than I have gone before.  Next trip in won’t be as easy to kick my arse… wait, is that possible?

To put it all in perspective, today’s ride was 10 minutes faster than my last.  Over 24 miles, that’s about 2 mph faster than Friday!  (I did have my bag and didn’t have the power of 2 ninja’s in my back pocket on Friday, but I didn’t just coast to work.

It’s like my own little house of pain with a video game on my stem!  Very Very Very cool!  I think this will help me in my quest to fight global insanity!

GREAT RIDE … bummer at the end!

I will start at the end.  I got a flat.  I hate flats.  I knew it was coming when I hit it… I couldn’t do anything.  I was cooked.  I was going uphill… so I was going medium pace, I was driving hard and I didn’t see a manhole cover.  I realized I had 3 choices, 2 involved crashing, one involved jumping… I got ALMOST over it before my rear wheel hit the lip and I lost my rear tube.  DOH!  These things happen.

On to the GOOD stuff.  My ride in was excellent.  For the first time in 2 years, I got on my bike and my buttock didn’t say “Why are you doing this to me again?”  That is a feeling I am used to, it goes away in a mile or less, but today… golden!  That is the sign that life is getting better in the saddle.

From there, my new way to work was peaceful, serene and faster than a bullet shot from cannon!  I was flying!  It was great.  No traffic.  The Comet…. that’s it, it was as fast as a SILVER COMET!  Wow, I have gone to new levels of lame humor in my blog.  Seriously though, it was very nice to just relax, enjoy my ride and go fast.  The ride home will be similar, I imagine, but at the same time there will be more pedestrian traffic on the comet.  That is only problematic in that you are riding straight into the sun, you don’t see them all that well.  Must be careful.  I imagine they hurt!

An interesting note completely unrelated to anything in this post… I walked out of work the other day, to go on my bike ride and the building engineers and 2 guys were looking up at the building entrance.  There is a big “dent” in our building.  I said “Let me guess, a bike on a bike rack?”  They said “Yeah….”  I said “That’s why I got my hitch rack!  I am TRULY glad I did that right the first time.  I’d hate to kill my car, my bike and my office all in one stupid maneuver!

That’s all I have to say about that….

Getting beaten by a 50 year old woman!

So the other day, I went over to the Column’s drive Tri-geek loop for some intervals.  There are always tri-geeks over there.  Always.  It’s okay, it is the only road in the US that you are SPECIFICALLY forbidden from riding on 2 abreast on the shoulder… whatever!  It’s safe, flat, good for intervals… and it’s 1 mile from my office!

I get over there, warm up a bit and do a 2.5 mile interval.  I mean I am going as hard as I can… I see one person on a tri bike… looks like they know what they are doing, looks fast.  Well, I am recovering and rolling back 2.5 miles to do another and this woman passes me like a freight train.  Wow… initially I figure “I should jump on her wheel.”  Well… no.  I quickly convince myself I am “on a rest” and continue my spin.  On the way back doing my next 2.5 mile interval, I chase her… I chase her hard!  I catch her just as I finish.  I roll up and say “Thanks for giving me somebody to chase!”  She says “Oh… I am cooling down, I wasn’t going hard!”  (yeah… thanks, next time just kick me too).  I make a joke out of it and say “Oh come on, admit it, you were hammering!   Harder than you have ever gone before… “  We chuckle and chat a bit in preparation for my next 2.5 mile battle with the wind.  She tucks in behind me and about 1.5 miles in passes me and drops me.  I shatter mentally, can’t focus… damnit.  I should be able to keep up!

We regroup… chat a bit and it’s my final hoo-rah!  Can I hold off this woman?  Game on… 2.5 miles in the pain cave.  I left EVERYTHING I had on that road!  I even mustered a SPRINT at the end that was semi impressive.  I was proud of it.  She is headed back to her car, the same way I am going… we chat a bit more.  She had mentioned ironman so I asked her if she had ever done that Hawaii.  She says “Yes, I have finished 17 times”.  Okay… that explains a bit of it!  In her next couple of sentence she says something to the effect “I have won my age group 10 times”.  People under 30 don’t talk about age groups, heck, I don’t really even think people under 40 do…  so I go home and do my research.  I know her first name… her team… etc… Not only is she a 10 time winner…. this woman holds the world record in her age group.

Anybody that can finish an Ironman Hawaii in 10:39 is a stud(ette) in my book!  Seriously!  I am 110% sure she could kick my keister in just about anything she wanted to.  She did push me in my training, so that was cool!  Removal of false pride and/or unnecessary ego is sometimes necessary!  Good day on the bike!

un-Shocking news

So you see… it’s like this:  Track racing is all about speed.  It’s all about going fast typically on well groomed velodrome.  Nice smooth concrete or wood race tracks.  Well, the track here in Atlanta isn’t so much smooth.  As a matter of fact, it’s actually quite rough.  This is causing some “soreness” if you will.  (Yes, this is another post directly related to my anatomy… but we will spare you the details).  In an effort to increase my enjoyment and minimize the discomfort I can experience after a good two hour session at the Dick Lane Velodrome, I have added a special set up to my track bike.  The seat post you see there is actually a white brothers suspension post.  It’s traditionally for a mountain, cross or even road bike.  As a matter of fact, I may be the only freak on earth with a post like that on his track bike.  I am not sure how well I will like it but I will give it a go.  Worst thing that can happen is I hate it and I can take it off as fast (or faster) than I put it on.

In other news, rain is terrorizing the ATL.  Not just rain, rain with insane wind… sometimes called a tornado or something.  Weather is looking a bit better for tomorrow, we will see.

I love it when a plan comes together!

When I decided to lose my truck, I came up with a plan.  Small car, better gas, rack to safely carry my bike… easy on, easy off… both wheels stay on.  Okay, all good.  I like this.  That was nearly 2 months ago.  Today I was able to execute my plan.  I packed up my stuff, put my bike on my Thule Rack, went to work and at lunch, suited up and got ready… off I went!  It was a good ride.  I rode from work, through this little park to “Columns Drive”.  It’s a semi-lame road as it’s the ONLY road in the country with a 4 foot wide shoulder and a LAW that says you cant ride 2 abreast on the shoulder.  Lame… but I was riding by myself so I didn’t have to worry so much about this law.   I did 3 “laps” of Columns, then went back.  Nothing terribly exciting, but it was RIDING on the ROAD again!  I enjoyed that.

Sarah got me the COOLEST picture book for Valentines day!  It’s all pictures of our trip to san fran.  Ultimately, we have tons of photos and thats cool, but man… having a little book is neat!  Thanks, babe!  I love it!

Train keeps on rolling!

So Wednesday I did get down to the velodrome.  Had a great ride actually.  I finally am feeling comfortable on this bumpy oval.  It’s kinda crazy I must say… The track is so bumpy, you get bounced all over the place.  My friend Kirk pointed out that as I lose weight, the bouncing wont be as bothersome.   I probably rode for 90 minutes.  Good deal.

Thursday, I was pretty busy and it was raining so I ran inside.  I did 2 miles in 22 minutes which included my walk/warm up.  I know, thats slow but considering I don’t run, I was reasonably proud of it.  I then did some lifting.

Today, I was basically beat.  I stayed up way to late last night and today, I didnt want to ride.  It sucked.  Well, I decided I had to to keep my streak alive.  I headed out for a short ride… 45 minutes.  Ooops…. 85 minutes later I got back to work.  I actually got kinda lost and that sucked, but I did ride today and that was cool!

Ten days… a smidge over 10 pounds.  Going well!

Signs may be misleading

Alright, so this should have been the coolest thing I have ever seen in my life. I mean, seriously, it says “this stretch of road is made for Scott”. Well, let me break it down for you. The first thing wrong is it is not a road. Now, at lunch, on a little known bike path, it’s really not a busy and the path factor is minimized… I don’t at any time feel i endangered any other humans, I didn’t even see any humans…, however I feel that the good folx in the Cobb County path planning commission tried to kill me! (Well, not literally).

So bust a move rolling easy, but quick. Come around a corner and some chucklehead decided it was a good idea to put in a series of moguls! Yeah, bike path moguls. I got my over-sized arse airborne on the first one and grabbed a fist full of brakes before the second. It almost made me drop some kids off in my pants! Seriously what were they thinking? No warning “Speed Moguls Ahead”… I guess the moral of the story is don’t celebrate caution signs.

Ultimately, it all turned well. I went down… cruised around a bit and enjoyed the ride. I did some off road riding… on my road bike. It was fun! The path is too short for regular riding at lunch, but now I know where it goes.

Back in the saddle again

So it’s that toys-r-us time of year! Well, actually there are no toys involved, just me and the General Lee. I left work and rolled around for a while. Average speed was low, ride was slow, but it was exactly what I needed.

Ultimately, I think standing up was the worst part. When i was rolling down the gravel road I thought to myself “If I have to do some crazy bike stuff, this could be bad”. Then I thought “If I have to do some crazy bike stuff and can’t do the crazy bike stuff, I might crash and if I do that it will suck more than falling off a jet-ski”. All in all, I just relaxed and rode along for a while. It was peaceful and relaxing, like a cool autumn breeze!

I ran into an ex-coworker from Free Flite. He has moved on and is now working in a motorcycle shop. He is moving to NC soon, so it was cool to run into him. I rode a bit with him… This area I was riding in will be great for winter fixie riding and stuff. The cool thing is I can leave RIGHT from work! It’s a little noisy at first, being right next to 285, but it quiets down nicely!

My new riding partner!

Spending a summer working in a bike shop does have some advantages. One of them was “EP” or employee purchase on bicycles. Can you believe that I worked there all summer and didn’t get a new bike for myself?

I did get Sarah a bike. I picked her up a Trek 1600 WSD (Women’s Specific Design). We have tricked it out in all the latest in pink gadgets! It’s quite girly! The cool thing is that Sarah has been riding at least once a week since we got her the bike. She has also been working/running in the morning and her fitness is coming along nicely. It’s fun to go riding with her! She went from being afraid to stand up to attacking me up hills. I better be careful or I might end up chasing her up a mountain or something crazy!